The Last Farewell
by JJAndrews
Summary: The Institute crumbles, the Minutemen rise but there is one last farewell to make.


The Last Farewell

I do not own the rights to Fallout

'Shaun?' Sarah Lang, General Sarah Lang, said as loudly as possible as she entered her sons quarters in the Institute.

It was exactly as she remembered, sterile, cold, emotionless. No wonder Shaun had been ruined by this parody of an ideal world. Through the air rang the sounds of gunfire, the explosions of grenades and the zapping sounds of energy weapons. It was a full on battle, breaking the peace of this underground world at her orders. She had brought war to this land, and it was all by her command. She had fought in small scale fights against raiders, in skirmishes against them even but this was only her third battle, the first two had both been at the will of others when the Institute and then the Gunners attacked the Castle. Both times had been hard fought, she had nearly died both times and killed dozens. There was the fight at Bunker Hill but that was hardly a battle, more of a skirmish which developed an ego, not like both fights at the Castle where she saw dozens of her own troops fall fighting against wave after wave of Synths and Gunners. This was a battle, and she had decided it would happen. She had blasted her way through the Institute, her dark blue uniform on full, proud display, and her men at her side.

The first time she had set foot in the Institute maybe three months before, it had been a strange day, almost like going back in time. When Shaun had shown her to her own quarters she had felt amazement, the sheets were cleaned, the floors polished and there was running water, with a hot and cold setting which actually worked. In Diamond City when she went to sleep in the Dugout Inn for the first time on the night of her arrival there she woke up the next morning with lice in her hair. One of the Institute doctors dealt with those quickly and, after the luxurary of a long shower, a sleep in a clean bed and a fresh change of clean clothes, it was almost enough to turn her in support of the Institute. However, the look on the faces of those poor people, people, not just Synths, at Bunker Hill made her see, once and for all, just who was in the right.

'Shaun?' she shouted again. 'Are you here?'

She headed upstairs and looked around, her eyes soon coming to rest on the bed where Shaun was resting. With one look she knew what it was, the end.

'Shaun,' Sarah said and walked over to her son, resting her shotgun against the wall, and knelt by the bed, 'Shaun, I'm sorry it's come to this.'

'Sorry?' he growled, the bitterness in his voice impossibly clear. 'You can't be that sorry if it's come to this. Why am I not surprised that even while you plan to destroy my life's work you've come here to gloat?'

'What's wrong?' she asked. 'Look, erm, maybe there's something I can do.'

'You've done enough mother. I am dying, and with me dies my dream.'

'I had to do this. I had to do what was right.'

'Right?'

'Yes,' over the last few months, since the Minutemen effectively declared war on the Institute, she had rehearsed these words again and again. She knew it was the only thing she could say. 'I knew someone once, a very good man who knew the difference between right and wrong, the man who married me before he was sent off to war, who went almost blind when a fire bomb wiped out half of his company and scorched his flesh to the bone. He did it all because he knew it to be right, the same way I know that what I've done is right.'

'My father, he's been for decades, what he would have done doesn't matter.'

'Yes it does. You have no idea what I've done, what I've lost, what I've given up. I was a lawyer, I wanted to make sure that I'd make a difference, put bad people where they belong but I had to become a general. Shaun, please, if you can just admit that you can see why I've done this I'll know that you're still my son.'

'No, I can't see at all. All you've done is destroy the only hope we have for the future. What could justify it?'

'Soul,' she answered. 'I have seen the Synths, I have made friends with some of them, and I can see into their eyes. So many of them don't want to be little more than a servant to you, you did more than make machines, you made life.'

'They are not alive.'

'Yes they are. They can think and so they are. The people of the Commonwealth don't want to answer to you. They want to be free to make their farms, to run their shops, to live their lives without the fear of being ruled by an unfeeling monster. You're more a machine than the Synths. My son has been dead for years.'

As she said each word she felt the tears buold up behind her tired eyes, suddenly saying all she had known for months coming out at once. Sarah adjusted her glasses and shook her head.

'You want to see them carry on like that, living in shacks and eating poison?'

'No I don't, that's why the best hope for humanity isn't you, it's me.'

'You?'

'Yes, give it time, time to rebuild, and the Minutemen will bring peace to the Commonwealth. In five years we'll have driven the raiders out of the Commonwealth forever, we will rebuild Boston, we'll have a real defence force. Remember the provisional government? Without the Institute messing it up we'll build a better version, the Republic of Massachusetts with a democratically elected leader. We'll bring back, I'll bring back, what we lost the day the bombs fell.'

'Then why are you still here?' Shaun asked her numbly. 'Are you just here to gloat?'

'I just wanted to look into your eyes one more time Shaun and,' the bitterness fell out of her voice, 'and tell you that I love you, despite it all. You'll always be my son, I just wish we could be family.'

With that she turned away, walked to his computer, activated the evacuation code and then brought down the security. This was it, the last step in this battle.

...

'Is everything ready Sturges?' Sarah asked him after she and all the others had been teleported back to the relay room.

'Just about,' he answered from behind the control desk, a confused look on his face. 'I can get us out of here but we have a problem.'

'Same as usual,' she commented, gripping the shotgun tight in her hands and walking forwards with Preston right behind her.

'I know but, erm, well, I was doing my thing when this kid arrived, Said he's your son General.'

'Sturges that's not possible,' she said and reached the desk where, on the otherside, she saw the child synth made by Shaun. 'Oh.'

'Mom, please, don't leave me here. I want to go with you.'

'Why,' she said, this confusing her more than anything, 'why did you call me "mom".'

'Because you're my mom. Why else would I say it?'

'Yes,' she said, not really knowing what was going on. 'Yes of course Shaun, I'm your mom. What else would I be?'

'Good, I thought you forgot there mom.'

'Okay Shaun,' she said and, a disbelieving smile on her face, took the boys hand. 'We're getting out of here. Sturges, power this thing up.'

'Yes ma'am, I'll set the relay to send the kid back to the Castle and you to the detonation site. We'll make sure he's alright.'

'Thanks Sturges. Come on Shaun, let's get out of here.'

...

 _Two Weeks Later_

'Okay Preston, you'll take the Second and attack from the north, I'll command the first and go in from the south. Adams, I want you to take command of the Third and attack via the Wilson Factory to the west. Peters, you and the Fourth will not attack but keep the east secured, stop any Gunners from escaping. You'll move into position by boat under the cover of night. We have three cannons in the range, each of them will fire five shells as soon as they see the smoke. When the guns are silent the attack will begin. Now, the key to this plan is secrecy, if the Gunners realise we're coming for them we'll have to fight against a force waiting for us behind fortifications. Radio Freedom will not change its broadcasts and our forces will move into position in forces no larger than ten men, understood?'

There was a chorus of "yes General" from the officers and she nodded, smiling to herself. Four fifths of all the Minutemen in the Commonwealth were assembled at the Castle, ready for Operation Redemption. The remainder would continue patrols or garrison the castle, in the short term it would lower security across the Commonwealth but they'd weakened the raiders in the area so much that none of them would take the risk of attacking a Minuteman loyal settlement. Twenty officers stood in her office in the Castle, there was also Piper who had agreed to cover the upcoming offensive against the Gunners, all of them looking at her as she cleared her throat.

'Ladies and gentlemen, officers of the Minutemen, our organisation has been rebuilt, the Castle fortified and our numbers have swelled However, over it all the black mark of the Quincy Massacre overshadows it all. With Operation Redemption this stain on the history of the Minutemen will be cleaned out forever and all will know that any who threaten the peace and stability of the Commonwealth will fall to laser fire and the knowledge that God, above all, is on our side. We are the good guys and now we take revenge for what happened to Quincy.'

Her officers cheered there and saluted her.

'We leave at six hundred hours. Get some rest.'

As she watched her officers leave the office she sighed, hoping that they would live through this.

'What''s up Blue?' Piper asked her.

'I'm taking an awful risk here. If one thing goes wrong the Minutemen could be massacred.'

'It's worth the risk. I mean, when we heard about what happened at Quincy it ruined the Minutemen for us. Like you said, this will show the Commonwealth that the Minutemen are back and are the good guys again.'

'Thanks Piper. I'm glad you agreed to cover this in the paper.'

'Why wouldn't I want to cover it? It's going to be the biggest scoop since the Institute blew up.'

'Well, I'll see you around Piper. Go get some sleep.'

'I'll try but it looks like your men are starting up a high stakes caravan game.'

Sarah shook her head and sighed.

'I swear they're trying to turn me into an old woman.'

'It's just your maternal instincts kicking in. Bound to a happen.'

'Yes,' she said and smiled slightly, seconds later it faltered. 'Did I do the right thing?'

'What?'

'Bringing Shaun back here, becomming his mom, was it right?'

'Of course it was.'

'It's just, I overheard some scientists at the Institute. Shaun, he'll never grow up, he'll be a kid forever. It's just wrong, like raising a well made toy.'

'Blue, don't you dare think that,' her friend warned her. 'Look, kids are born all the time with defects, some can't think straight and some are born with extra limbs, but their parents still love them. How's Shaun any different?'

'I suppose so. It's just,' she said and wondered how to phrase it. 'Oh God, it's just, I do love him. I look at him and I see his dads eyes. Every time I play with him I feel like I'm living the life he should have always had, the life I should have had. I just wish Nate's here for it.'

Piper just put a comforting hand on Sarah's shoulder and patted her there once before she left. For a moment Sarah sat there alone, except for the Gilded Grasshopper on her desk, until a knocking came from her door.

'Come in,' she said and picked up a folder with a dozen blank sheets in it which she pretended to read, a trick she had learned at college to look important.

'Mom,' her sons voice said and she closed the folder.

'Are you alright Shaun?'

'Yeah I'm great. Some of the men want to show me how to play Caravan, can I please?'

'Alright,' she told him, he'd spend a lot of time around soldiers soon enough so he'd learn eventually. 'Only watch though, don't play.'

'But mom,' he started.

'No "buts" Shaun,' she said trying to do her best "mom" voice, just a little higher than her "General" voice.

'Okay,' he said and was about to hurry out when a sharp expression crossed his face. 'Oh, mom, I forgot to give this to you.'

He pulled a holotape out of his pocket and placed it on her desk.

'What's this for?'

'I don't know. Father gave me it before I went with you.'

'I see,' she said and, when Shaun had left, and with the doors closed behind him, she studied the yellow surface of the tape, almost frightened of what would be on it.

With a click she slotted the tape into the Pip Boy and held her breath, waiting for it to begin.

 _'Mother,'_ the tired voice of her son emerged from the speakers of her device, _'if you are listening to this, then it means one thing, the conflict between us is over. At first I had no reason to believe that you'll honour the request I am about to make but, even though I hate what you have done, I believe it was done out of empathy. This Synth, I have programmed him to believe that he is your son. I only ask that perhaps you could find it in your heart to take care of him, to raise him as I hope you would have raised me. Goodbye mother.'_

It ended and Sarah just sat there, she didn't know how much time had passed but eventually she stood up and walked to the cabinet in her office, it had been there since she arrived and once held a few bottles of whisky, which she and Preston had enjoyed after they took the place back, but now it held a few momentoes, a hat gifted to her by Nick, the 10mm pistol she picked up in Vault 111 and a picture she had found in the ruins of her old house, a small photo, with a few stain marks on it, displaying herself, Nate and Shaun, three days after they had left the hospital. Sarah placed the holotape behind that picture, next to another one named "Hey Honey".

'I will,' she said and turned away, planning to make sure that Shaun actually did as he was told, picking up her bowler hat as she went out.


End file.
